Kotova G. N., Lysov I. D., Korolev V. P..
Written in the form of a dialogue between specialists and readers, the brochure is addressed primarily to practicing beekeepers.
I. FROM THE HISTORY OF STUDYING THE HONEY BEE.
1. When did honey bees first begin to be studied?
For the first time, the Dutch scientist Jak Swammerdam (1637 -1680) studied the anatomy and metamorphosis of insects and gave a description honey bee V scientific work"Nature's Bible"
2. What scientific achievements played an important role in the development of beekeeping?
The famous Swiss scientist Huber (1750-1831) established that mating of a queen with a drone occurs outside the nest; without mating, the queen lays unfertilized eggs. Jerzon (1811 -1906) discovered the parthenogenetic development of drones, the origin of queens and worker bees from identical eggs. The American scientist Langstroth (1810-1895) discovered the presence of a constant size of space between the honeycombs, which was the reason for the invention of the frame hive.
The outstanding Russian scientist A. G. Kozhevnikov (1866-1933) studied the properties of different breeds, the polymorphism of bees and their instincts. For the first time he used the method of biometric measurement of the external parts of a bee’s body. N.V. Nasonov (1855-1939) discovered an aromatic gland in worker bees, called Nasonov’s gland. A significant contribution to the development of the biology of the honey bee was made by Russian scientists K. F. Roulier (1814-1858). N. M. Kulagin (1859-1940) and others.
II. COMMUNITY OF HONEYBEARING NCHELA.
3. Who called the honey bee and why?
Carl Linnaeus (1758) first named the honey bee (Apis mellifera). Unlike the huge number (about 20 thousand species) of other insects - representatives of the bee family, the honey bee lives in families and collects large quantities of honey in reserve, thanks to which it has acquired a large economic importance and distribution throughout the world.
4.How did the bee community arise?
In ancient times, honey bees lived alone. Adapting to dramatically changing external conditions, the bees united into small colonies. In the process of microevolution, then
There is a continuous improvement of the way of life within the species, female individuals have separated into two varieties: worker bees and queen bees. The role of queens was gradually limited and reduced
only to lay eggs, and the number of queens was reduced to one. The worker bees took care of feeding the larvae, collecting food, building honeycombs, etc. Due to these activities, new organs were formed, and the function of their ovaries atrophied. The distribution of responsibilities in the family has reduced the independence of its members. Their lives began to depend on the entire community. A bee can live on its own for no more than a day, but in a family for several months. Thanks to their social way of life, bees have adapted to making large supplies of food, protecting the nest, and regulating the microclimate.
5. What unites bees into a family?
All individuals of a bee family are united by: origin (all bees and drones are descendants of the same queen); caring for the offspring (feeding the brood, protecting the nest and regulating the microclimate of one’s home); inability of community members to exist independently; performance of certain works by individual individuals and groups of bees, depending on the age and physiological state of their body.
6. What role do food contacts play in family life?
Food contacts play a unifying role. Bees exchange food from the first days of life. At the same time, one bee asks for food by extending its proboscis, and the other, in response to irritation, reflexively burps a drop of food from the honey sac. When feeding a group of bees radioactive food, it was found that after 4 hours this food was found in 16-24% of hive and 62% of flying bees. 4-day-old individuals transfer food most actively; from the 5th day, the activity of bees in mutual feeding decreases and on the 7th day almost stops. One-day-old bees do not participate in mutual feeding.
7. What role do pheromones play in the life of a bee colony?
Pheromones are biologically active substances released by bees into the environment. All individuals of a bee colony secrete pheromones, which are directly related to the regulation of the physiological state and behavior of family members. The uterine pheromone, the uterine substance, has the highest activity. With its help, the queen attracts drones
during the mating flight in the air and worker bees within the family, and also has a sterilizing effect on worker bees, preventing them from laying unfertilized eggs, and inhibits the raising of new queens in the family. Worker bees, surrounded by the queen as she moves freely through the honeycombs, lick pheromones from her body and pass them on to the rest of the family. Through pheromones, bees learn about the state of the queen. In addition to pheromones associated with reproduction, there are pheromones in the bee family that regulate the performance of work. To protect the family from enemies, there is an alarm pheromone. Information about the work being performed is carried by a complex of pheromones secreted by the nason gland of the worker bee.
8. What is the uterine substance?
The uterine substance is an aromatic oily liquid produced by the jaw glands of the fetal uterus and permeates the integument of its body. The mother substance contains a lipid complex. One component of this complex is a fatty acid called 9-hydroxy-deci-trans-2-enoic acid, or 9-ODA, produced by the mandibular glands of the uterus. When it is introduced into the hemolymph of a worker bee, it is possible to cause inhibition of egg formation not fully, since the composition of the mother substance also includes 9-hydroxy-deci-trans-2-enoic acid, which is also formed in the mandibular glands. This acid increases the effect of 9-ODC. A substance was found in the mandibular gland of the uterus, which is methyl 9-oxoden-trans-2-enoate, which acts as a sex hormone.
9. Do barren uteruses have pheromones?
The barren queen secretes sex pheromones (ectohormones) from the maxillary glands during nuptial flights. Based on a specific smell, drones look for the queen in the air, near
hive drones do not react to the sex pheromone of a barren queen. In the process of attracting drones, the pheromone of the tergal glands of the queen bee’s abdomen also plays an important role.
10. How many years can a family of bees live?
The continuity of the family's existence is ensured by its ability to reproduce new generations. The individual properties of a family are preserved only as long as the same queen lives in it. After replacing the old queen with a new one, the properties of the bee family also change: the previous generation is replaced by a new generation of bees with different hereditary characteristics. G. A. Kozhevnikov (1930) compares a bee family with “a living stream, sometimes more or less complete, constant as a whole, but not constant in its component parts.
11. What unifying role do signaling movements play?
Signaling movements are a kind of bee language, through which bees exchange information about the found source of food. Signal movements not only indicate the location of the food source, but also make it possible to involve as many bees as possible in collecting nectar and pollen through contact perception of the smell of flowers brought by the scout. If the honey plants are near the hive, the bee performs circular movements. Bees transmit information about the distance to the source of nectar using wagging movements of the abdomen and the duration of the buzz.
12. How do bees distinguish the scent of individual flowers?
A bee can distinguish over 40 types of odorous substances and capture some of them in very low concentrations. The sense of smell plays a significant role in finding sources of food and mobilizing it to collect it. The bee brings along with the nectar the smell of the plant from which it was collected. Bees perceive this scent as a signal to fly and search for a plant with that scent.
III. WORKING BEES.
13. How long does a bee live after being stung?
A bee, having stung and lost its sting, flies for only a few hours and dies. In experiments with five bees, which, after they had lost their sting, were placed in a bee colony, it was found that
these bees died after 6, 38, 80, 96, and 102 hours, although they took food. A bee stung by another bee died immediately.
14. Does the mass of the worker bee remain the same?
According to Skorikov’s data, the mass of a young bee during the first flight is 0.122 g, a bee that feeds or builds is 0.134 G. bees in flight - 0.120 G, old flying bee 0.108 g. In 1 kg - 10000-11000 bees.
15. When can a bee lift more than its own weight?
A bee can lift twice its own weight when carrying a drone out of the hive.
16. Can bees think?
There is no reason to believe that a bee can think: its brain is too small (800 thousand nerve cells-neurons) to retain a large amount of information, but as a result of constant contacts with each other, bees form a family brain, which in capacity (6-8 billion . neurons) can compete with the brain of more developed mammals (8-10 billion neurons in a dolphin). Bees are able to adjust the behavior of the emerging generations of their colony. During the period when the family will not be able to promptly adjust its actions due to the winter cold, it behaves “like a smart machine,” programmed taking into account all the subtleties and dangers (S. A. Popravke, 1985).
17. What is the body temperature of a bee?
The bee's body temperature depends largely on the external temperature, but within certain limits it regulates it. The body temperature of a bee during flight depends on the external temperature: at 22-26 °C it reaches 35-37 °C, and at 35-37 °C - up to 42 °C. A bee that has completed its flight has a temperature 6-20° higher than environment. The body cools down as a result of a decrease in metabolism, a decrease in oxygen consumption and due to the evaporation of water.
18. Why don't bees hibernate?
In insects that fall into hibernation, significant reserves are deposited in the body nutrients. Their body fat reaches 18-20% total weight, and decreases in tissues
amount of water. This preparation provides the insect’s body with energy material for the rest period, and also helps to increase tissue resistance to the freezing process. Bees are not adapted to accumulate large reserves of nutrients in their bodies. Their body fat is only 1.2-2.2%. Individual bees cannot survive for a long time at temperatures close to zero.
19. What temperatures are dangerous for bees and what are the results of their exposure?
It is known that frozen at low temperatures Bees are revived by heat. The duration of the bees' stay in a frozen (numb) state with subsequent revival depends on the air temperature at which they fell into torpor. Thus, at temperatures from 1 to 8 °C, bees can be in the torpor stage for 30 hours, at 0- -1 °C - 10 hours, at +2- -5 °C - 4 hours.
At an external temperature of 5-6 °C, 500 g of bees enter a state of slight torpor after 5-6 hours and return to an active state after 30-60 minutes; at 3-5 °C, bees freeze after 4-5 hours, come to life, but slowly . Most of them die because sugar does not enter their blood.
20. How long can bees (in cells of 20-30 bees) withstand low temperatures with sufficient food?
Individual bees can withstand temperatures from 6 to 8 °C for 9 days, and from 1 to 3 °C for only 2 days.
21. How many degrees is it permissible to increase the temperature inside the nest? At what temperature does brood die?
In a normal strong colony, bees maintain the temperature within 34-35°. The brood easily tolerates a short-term temperature increase of 2-3° and a decrease of 10-12°. However, a prolonged decrease in temperature, even by 3°, leads to an extension of the bee’s development time and underdevelopment of the wings. An increase in temperature by 2-3° causes partial death of bees, and by 4-5° the death of the entire brood.
22. Can bees stay overnight in the field during the main honey flow?
They can during good nectar flow, when bees fly for a long time and often do not have time to return to the hives before dark. Such bees return early in the morning, as soon as the sun warms up
air.
23. How long do bees live without food?
The lifespan of bees deprived of food depends on their age and outside temperature. It has been established that they live longest at 16.5 ° C, and least at 36 °. Individual fed bees may not eat for 21 to 134 hours. Flight bees flying out of the hive are less hardy. They can fast from 4 to 17 hours, and young ones from 7 to 111 hours (V. Krizhan, 1975).
24. How long do worker bees live?
The lifespan of bees depends on the timing of their exit from the cell. Those bred in March live up to 35 days, in June - up to 30 days, those bred during the main honey flow - 28-30 days, bred in September - October - 80-100 days. In families without brood, they can live up to a year.
25. Which bees are called long-lived?
Long-lived bees appear in the fall, that is, during the period when there is no brood. At this time, young bees intensively feed on beebread, which, with a decrease or absence of work on feeding the brood, contributes to the accumulation of reserve substances in the body. The live weight of bees in autumn increases by 13-19% compared to summer, and the dry weight of these bees increases by 16-26%.
26. Does humidity affect the lifespan of bees?
A. Vudrov (1935) discovered a natural decrease in the life expectancy of bees with increasing relative humidity air. At a humidity of 25.5%, the bees lived 52 days; at 50.9% - 30.9; at 73.5% - 24.5; at 93.1% - 8.4 days. The author explains the reduction in life expectancy at high humidity by the accumulation of a large amount of water in the bee’s body, which it is not able to remove by the tracheal system. Dampness in hives has a depressing effect on bees. Honey, which absorbs moisture well, liquefies, flows out of the cells and sours. Bees get sick when they consume soured honey.
27. It is known that bees actively move around honeycombs. What causes this?
At the age of 7-15 days, bees make long-distance migrations. They travel about 2.5 m per day. Increased physical activity bees are associated with the performance of numerous functions: feeding larvae, repairing and building honeycombs, processing nectar and pollen. Bees of flying age (over 20 days) are less active, but in the presence of honey flow they make regular movements in the morning towards the entrance, and in the evening - to the nest area.
28. At what time of day are bees most active in foraging?
The flight activity of bees depends on the temperature and humidity of the air. IN sunny days years of bees begins at a temperature of 12-14 ° C, intensifies as it increases to 38 °, then activity decreases. After a warm night, summer begins earlier than after a cold night. The optimal temperature for bees to collect food is from 17 to 32 = C. Bees bred in summer fly more actively when
32 °C than at 21 °C. Overwintered - at lower temperatures. Optimal air humidity is from 20-25 to 60%.
29. Does the concentration of sugar in nectar affect the filling of the honey crop?
The load of the honey crop depends on the concentration of sugar in the nectar. Frisch (1955) reports that at a 17% sugar concentration, bees gained an average of 42 mg into the crop, at 34% - 55 mg, at 68% - 61 mg. Bees quickly take syrup of 50-60% concentration.
30. What activates the collection of nectar and pollen by bees?
A direct relationship has been established between the amount of open brood in a colony and the activity of foraging bees. When brood is removed from the nest, the activity of bees flying out for nectar drops from 88 to 47%. When open brood is added, the activity of foraging bees increases (V.I. Lebedev, N.G. Bilash, 1991).
31. How fast does a bee fly?
The flight speed of bees depends on many factors: wind strength, load, age of the bees. average speed bees without a load is 28-30 km/h, with a load - 24 km/h. Flight range at open area 4-5 km, on areas covered with trees, crossed by ravines - up to 11 km.
32. How long does a bee's flight to forage last?
The duration of food collection ranges from 15 to 103 minutes. Depending on the level of honey collection and the distance from the source to the hive, the flight duration is 10-60 minutes. when collecting
nectar and 6-30 min. when collecting pollen. A foraging bee stays in the field for an average of 1 hour, and in the hive
about 15 min. On average, a bee makes 8-10 flights per day, each time bringing 30-40 mg of nectar and 10-15 mg of pollen.
33. How far do bees fly from the apiary?
Bees prefer to take nectar near the apiary, at a distance of up to 1 km. Individual bees were found at a distance of 3-4 km from the apiary. Frisch (1955) managed to train bees to fly
feed over a distance of up to 6 km. The maximum distance covered by bees is 13,600 m (Zalessky, 1957).
34. How much food does a bee consume during its flight?
Bees spend 43% of the food they take on flight, even if they carry it from a distance of 0.5-0.75 km. From a distance of 3 km, bees bring 1/3 of the collected food. When flying, bees consume in 1 hour
10 mg glucose (12-13 mg honey). Flying within 0.750 km appears to be the most economical. When the glucose level in the hemolymph drops below 1%, the bee cannot fly. Feed consumption per
the flight activity of an average-strength family during the season is 28-30 kg, and the life and work of bees inside the hive is 48-52 kg per year.
35. How many flights must bees make to collect 1 kg of nectar?
To collect one kilogram of nectar from a linden tree, bees of a strong family make up to 25 thousand flights. When visiting other plant species that produce smaller amounts of nectar - 100–120 thousand flights. In 19 day flights, a bee from a strong family can collect 900-950 mg of nectar from a linden tree. When collecting nectar from rapeseed, located at a distance of 200-300 m from the hive, bees can make up to 60 flights per day.
36. How do bees navigate in space?
Having reached 10 days of age, the bees fly out of the hive. During the flights, the area is studied and the location of the hive becomes familiar. One of the landmarks that helps you find the entrance of your hive is the smell of the family. It is spread by bees located at the entrance, which special moves expose Nasonov's scent gland. The smell of secretion quickly spreads and saturates the air flow. The color of the hives is also a guide. If they are colored yellow, blue, blue-yellow, purple, distinguishable by bees, then bees rarely make mistakes. The “compass” for bees in open areas is the position of the sun and depends on
it is the direction of polarized light rays.
37. How much time does a bee spend feeding one larva?
The time spent on one feeding varies significantly: sometimes 8-10 seconds, sometimes up to 30 seconds, and in some cases 2-3 minutes. Between feedings, the bees look into the cell. Visits of this kind last from 2-3 seconds. up to 20 sec.
38. Do worker bees feed drones?
During the active period, worker bees care for drones and feed them with the contents of their honey crops. Approximately 18% of drones replenish their food reserves from bees by 10-30%. 62%
drones - no 35-75% and 10% of drones feed from honey cells. On average, 47% of drones feed during contact with worker bees.
39. How much honey do bees use to raise 1 kg of bees?
According to S.A. Rozov, 1.14 kg of honey and 0.789 kg of bee bread are consumed to raise 1 kg of bees (10,000 bees). This amount does not include the food necessary to support the life and flight of bees. These costs depend on external conditions range from 0.8 to 1.5 kg of honey per month.
40. How much honey do bees spend to build a honeycomb in a frame measuring 435x300 mm, waxed with a full sheet of foundation?
Bees build honeycombs only during honey collection. The bees add approximately 50 g of wax to a sheet of wax weighing about 70 g. If bees secrete wax from the sugar they eat, then they consume approximately 3.6 kg of sugar per 1 kg of wax. Consequently, there are about 180 g of honey per 1 hundred. But since bees secrete wax while raising brood, honey consumption decreases
due to consumed pollen.
41. How much honey do bees need to eat to produce one large calorie of heat? As a result of what processes do bees release water vapor?
When 1 g of sugar decomposes in the cells of the body of bees, 4.18 calories of heat are formed, that is, for one calorie the bee consumes 0.24 g of sugar or 0.29 g of honey containing 20% water. During the decomposition of sugar, oxygen is absorbed and carbon dioxide and water are released.
42. How much water does a bee evaporate per day?
It has been established that the maximum evaporation of water exceeds the bee's body weight twice. Together with feces, bees excrete 6-7% of water, the rest (93-94%) is released during respiration.
When feeding bees with 50% syrup, one bee loses 0.075 g of water per day, which is 70% of its body weight (G. F. Taranov, 1955).
43. Does the carbon dioxide content in a bee nest change depending on the season?
The carbon dioxide content in the nest is not constant. In the spring-summer period, when brood is being reared, the nest contains maximum amount oxygen and minimum -
carbon dioxide. At this time, the carbon dioxide content in the center of the nest ranges from 0.1 to 1%, and in its peripheral part from 0.05 to 1%. At the end of the season, the CO 2 content increases in the central part to 2%, and in winter to 3-4%.
44. How is the carbon dioxide content in the nest regulated?
The composition of the gas is regulated by venting the nest. At 3% carbon dioxide, 6-7 bees ventilate; at 8% concentration, the number of ventilating bees increases 20 times. At 1.4% carbon dioxide concentration, nest ventilation stops.
45. There are reports that the bee senses taste through its tongue, legs and antennae. Is this true?
In bees, taste is perceived by a group of sensitive cells (receptors), from which nerves extend to the suprapharyngeal node. Bees have taste buds on their mouths, legs, and antennae. The most developed organs are on the oral appendages, at the base of the uvula. There are two groups of chitinous cylinders covered by pagans. There are also groups of sensitive cells near the ducts of the pharyngeal glands, on the pharyngeal plate. A group of sensory cells is also located on the upper side of the lower jaws. The second group of taste organs is located on the antennae. K. Frisch showed that the taste organs on the antennae of the foraging bee are more
senses the concentration of sugar more subtly than through the receptors of the oral appendages. The third group of taste cells is located on the legs of the bee. The sensitivity of these organs is 12 times lower than the organs on the antennae. The taste organs control the suitability of food. Bees are able to distinguish between sweet, bitter, salty and sour. The minimum concentration of sugar in nectar at which bees collect it can vary significantly. Bees do not distinguish a 5% sugar solution from water. Bees are very sensitive to table salt, even a slight admixture of it.
46. When do bees sting the least?
Bees are most peaceful during the period of abundant honey harvest, when the instinct to collect food suppresses or significantly reduces all other instincts, including defensive ones. Bees are less aggressive on warm, sunny days between 9 and 11 a.m. and 3 and 5 p.m.
After a long cold winter, the long-awaited spring comes. During the day the sun warms up, the birds chirp loudly, the animals begin the rut, the bees fly out of the hives, they need to make their first flight and free their bellies from the droppings that have accumulated in them over the winter, and in the evenings more frosts come.
Today I want to tell you about an amazing bee. How much benefit does this little bee bring?
History of beekeeping:
Beekeeping came to us from ancient times. Beekeeping first appeared in Egypt. French Egyptologist J.F. talks about this. Champollion.
He managed to decipher papyrus scrolls that have come down to us from ancient Egypt. Also preserved ancient chronicles on a large slab, which is now kept in Sicily.
From these scrolls one could read that beekeeping existed in Egypt already in the 2nd millennium BC. During excavations, emblems and tombs of the pharaohs were also found, where a bee was depicted. From here we see that the Egyptians worshiped the bee; they considered it sacred.
In his chronicles, the Egyptian priest Manetho in the 4th century BC wrote “How can you pass by the slopes of the mountains, where the flowers shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow.” It is in such beautiful places bees lived.
Ancient people looked for the hollows of wild bees and collected honey that way. Over time, in Egypt they learned to weave beehives from twigs, used ceramic beehives, and also made beehives from baked clay.
The Egyptians knew well the usefulness of honey and even the medicinal properties of not only honey, but also wax and propolis.
In the 5th century, bees were brought from Egypt to Greece. The Greeks began to study beekeeping more deeply. They learned to distinguish the queen from the worker bee and the drone.
In the 6th millennium BC, beekeeping occupied most of Europe. The Greeks and Egyptians began to use the transportation of bees for honey collection.
The Greeks had the state law of Solon, which indicated at what distance apiaries should be placed.
Beekeeping in Rus':
In the 10th – 11th centuries, beekeeping appeared in our country. In Rus', bees were kept in logs, then dismantled nest boxes appeared.
Beekeeping grew faster and faster every year. Apiaries were installed near homes, and when flowering began, they were taken out to the field.
The reproduction of bees began to be controlled. The frame hive was invented in 1814. It was invented by the famous Russian beekeeper P.I. Prokopovich.
Peter Ivanovich began beekeeping in 1798, when he became very ill in the service, he returned home, bought land and bees.
Pyotr Ivanovich was engaged in beekeeping for more than 60 years, that is, until the end of his life. The world's first frame hive was made here by Prokopovich in 1815.
This is not all the merits of Pyotr Ivanovich; in 1828, he opened the first beekeeping school in Russia.
Since 1827, his articles began to appear. After his death in 1866, his book on the breeding and care of bees was published. In 1889, a factory was opened in Vyatka for the production of frame hives.
For many years, honey and wax were exported in huge quantities to other countries.
Life of a Bee:
The life of a bee has many peculiarities and secrets. Bees are divided into worker bee, queen bee and drone.
The worker bee does all the work, collects nectar, pollen (pollen drenched in honey turns into bee bread); in medicine, bee bread cures many diseases. The worker bee also removes dead bees from the hives and processes the cells.
IN hot weather blows on the taphole, so it circulates air. During the summer period, a bee colony can secrete wax from three kilograms or more.
If cracks appear in the hive, the bees cover them with propolis. Propolis is bee glue. And if a mouse gets into the hive, the bees kill it with poison and wall it up in a propolis crypt. With such a lot of work, the worker bee does not live long, about six weeks.
The drone is a large and thick body. The drone does not perform any work. Its only job is to mate with the queen.
If he does not mate with the queen, then a cruel fate awaits him in the fall. The worker bees will be forced to pull it out of the hive and seal the entrance. Thus preparing for winter.
The queen bee is the owner of the hive and lives up to five years. Places larvae in clean cells.
She begins laying eggs around March. The queen can lay up to 1,500 thousand eggs per day. In case of queen loss, bees lay queen cells.
Medicinal value of honey:
In 377 BC, the scientist Hippocrates studied the medicinal value of honey.
Later he described that honey can cure diseases of the stomach, liver, and purulent wounds.
But jumping ahead a little, I can say from my own experience that honey really cures stomach diseases.
My dad had severe stomach pain for many years, so that he wouldn’t eat, his stomach would make itself known, and as always, people don’t want to go to the hospital.
And somehow, in the pasture, he met a beekeeper, as I remember now, his last name was Orlov, he was already an elderly grandfather, he gave one hive to my dad, so he began to breed bees and began to eat honey every day, and his long-term stomach illness went away.
Now my dad is retired, many ailments have come with old age, but his stomach still doesn’t hurt.
Dear friends, in the following posts I will tell you what diseases it helps with bee venom, royal jelly, honey.
Even a novice beekeeper can always distinguish a queen bee from a worker bee. This is absolutely easy to do. This is the main female in the hive, living much longer than ordinary bees. It is two and sometimes three times larger in size and, unlike the latter, has a full reproductive system. The strength of the family directly depends on how fertile she is.
In the hive, it performs one single function - it lays eggs, from which drones and workers then hatch. In just one summer period, she can lay up to 120 - 200 thousand of them. The queen bee is constantly in the hive and leaves it only to meet the drones. An interesting fact is that she can retain seminal fluid inside herself for a long time, using it gradually to lay more and more new eggs.
She is especially productive in the first 2 years of her life. The entire time she lays eggs, she is looked after by a specially assigned retinue - worker bees. Queens are usually replaced in the third year, but, of course, only if they reduce their productivity. You must first inspect the hive. The young female lays eggs in all cells in a row. The old or sick person skips them. If this is noticed, the manufacturer must be replaced.
The queen bee can lay only two types of eggs - fertilized, from which workers and other queens are produced, and unfertilized, from which drones subsequently emerge. Worker bees clean it and feed it with pollen and milk. Approaching the cell, the queen directs her abdomen into it and lays a small oblong egg. However, he always makes a preliminary inspection to see how well the future home of the larva has been cleaned.
Sometimes it happens that the queen bee, the photograph of which can be seen below, dies. The beekeeper himself is most often to blame for this. He can crush her when inspecting the hive, or, holding the frame not above it, drop the queen to the ground, where she dies after a short period of time. In this case, after 6 - 8 hours, the bees select several larvae and begin to intensively feed them with milk. The cells in which they develop are expanded and built upon.
A bee queen reared in this way is called a fistulous one. In most cases, such female producers are in no way inferior to swarming ones. However, if the bees choose not a one-day-old, but a three- to four-day-old larva, it will turn out to be a queen of poor quality. The family can suffer greatly from this. Meanwhile, if desired, the hive can be freed from potentially low-quality queens. To do this, remove all queen cells that were sealed within four days after planting.
You should try not to miss the moment when the bees begin hatching a new female. The fact is that a four-day-old queen bee will come out faster and immediately destroy all the one-day-old ones. Only in a very strong family will the working individuals not allow her to do this. In this case, swarming will occur and the most bad uterus. The breeder flies out of the hive several times until she mates with the drones.
This does not happen only if it is rainy outside. When it lasts more than 20 days, the queen begins to lay only empty eggs. It is easy to distinguish drone cells from the cells of worker bees: their lids are convex. Such a queen, also called a drone queen, will need to be replaced as quickly as possible.
As far as science knows, the ancestors of the modern honey bee appeared 50 - 60 thousand years earlier than the appearance of man, who quickly tasted the taste of bee honey.
Fossils of the first honey bees were found in the strata Cretaceous period, dating back to 50-130 million years BC. Most ancient find today is a bee in a drop of amber found in Burma ( Republic of the Union of Myanmar), and is about 97-100 million years old. This is the oldest bee known to scientists, it is 35-45 million years older than previously found samples.
The history of honey collection is also quite an ancient activity and dates back thousands of years.
At the dawn of mankind, beekeeping did not exist as we know it today. There was a collection of wild honey and nests of wild bees were always a welcome find for people. Collecting honey was a rather risky and dangerous activity, because for the sake of sweet prey, honey collectors had to climb trees, climb into rock crevices, and suffer from bites. It is known for certain that wild honey was extracted in the early Stone Age, which is about 15 thousand years ago. The drawing discovered in the Arana Cave, near the Spanish city of Valencia, dates back to this age.
Having tasted the taste of honey, from random finds of wild bee dwellings, man moved on to organized hunting for honey. This cannot be called full-fledged bee breeding, but it was already a certain form economic activity humans, and this form can well be called a system of “wild” beekeeping.
The first records of organized honey collection appeared about 5 thousand years ago. It's about about ancient Egyptian papyri telling about the nomadic beekeeping of local residents. First, bees in hives were transported to the sources of the Nile River. IN ancient Egypt hives were made from baked clay, the same ones are found in the Middle East (Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey), or the hives were woven from twigs and coated with clay (the prototype of the Caucasian sapets). The hives were placed on rafts that were slowly floated down the Nile. The bees collected nectar from plants along the banks of the river and then returned to the rafts. How much the Egyptians valued bees is shown by the fact that the pharaohs, from 3200 BC to Roman times, had a bee on their emblems, as well as on their tombs. Pharaoh Minos, who united Lower and Upper Egypt, chose the bee as the emblem of Lower Egypt. The Egyptians painted a bee on their petitions to the pharaoh as a symbol of devotion. They saw in bees an example of selflessness, fearlessness, contempt for death, danger, as well as guardians of ideal cleanliness and order. Egyptian pharaohs bore the title "Lord of the Bees". According to Egyptian beliefs, the soul, leaving the body, turns into a bee. Ancient Egyptian pyramids and obelisks confirm that the Egyptians consumed honey not only as food, but also as a medicinal, cosmetic and preservative. It is known from Egyptian mythology that honey and wax were widely used in ceremonial sacrifices and embalming of corpses.
Beekeeping was also widely developed in India 4000 years ago. Various nutritional and medicinal properties have been attributed to honey. The Indians used it as an antidote for poisoning from plant, animal and mineral poisons. Experience was passed on from generation to generation, from century to century. Beekeeping has become a tradition among Indians.
In Assyria (2950 - 2050 BC) beekeeping flourished. Wax was also known then. During the time of Saragont and after his death, the bodies of the dead were smeared with honey and covered with wax.
In Palestine in the third millennium BC. beekeeping was quite developed, since many swarms of bees lived on the rocks. On hot days summer days Honey and wax flowed down the rocks, which is why Palestine was called “the land where honey and milk flow.” The Greek traveler Strabo (63 - 26 BC) reports large production and consumption of honey in Arabia. The Arabs considered honey a gift from God and called it an elixir.
The Chinese also knew bees and practiced beekeeping since great love. Honey was recommended by their medicine as an independent remedy.
Beekeeping was highly developed in ancient Greece. Just as in Egypt, the ancient Greeks widely used the transportation of bees for honey collection. The Greeks transported bees to the honey-rich Attica peninsula and the islands Aegean Sea. At the same time, the rules of migration were regulated by state laws of that time. The laws of Solon indicated at what distance apiaries should be placed when they went on a migration. In Greece, the first knowledge about the life of bees and their breeding was developed. Many luminaries of ancient Greek culture provide information about the state of beekeeping in their country, as well as about the nutritional and medicinal properties of bee honey.
For example, Hippocrates (460 - 356 BC), in addition to writing medical treatises, wrote about the life of bees, food and medicinal qualities bee products. His works mention the disinfecting, expectorant and life-prolonging effects of honey. He recommended honey for the treatment of diseases of the stomach, liver and purulent wounds. The Greek scientist Xenophon (444 – 356 BC) wrote a multi-volume work “Anabasis”. He was the first to describe the life of a bee hive, and also outlined the medicinal properties of honey. Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) laid the foundation for scientific beekeeping, continuing the research of Xenophon. He distinguished three individuals of bees, described in detail the wax structures, and the development of bees from eggs to adult insects. His works described in detail the life of bees and the distribution of labor in a bee family, there were references to foulbrood and other natural enemies bees
Beekeeping was also well developed in the Roman Empire. The Roman scientist Varon (116 - 27 BC) in his work “On agriculture» devoted a lot of space to the development of beekeeping, bee breeding, beehives, and bee products. The Roman poet Virgil (70 - 19 BC), who was also a beekeeper, praises in his works great love his contemporaries to bees and honey. Pliny (23 - 79) writes about the flourishing of beekeeping in the Roman Empire. The Romans knew not only the nutritional and medicinal, but also the preservative properties of honey. The famous Greek scientist and physician Dioscorides (1st century AD) in his work “Materiamedica” notes his successful use of honey in treatment stomach diseases, purulent wounds and fistulas.
Beekeeping in Rus'.
Beekeeping also developed among the ancient Slavs. The Slavs kept bees in bees - tree hollows, natural or artificially created, inside of which there were two perches arranged crosswise for attaching honeycombs. This is where the name came from - Bortnichestvo.
The spread of beekeeping in Rus' was noted in the 10th - 17th centuries, this was facilitated by the presence of vast expanses of deciduous forests and pastures, they were called beekeeping. The volumes of wax and honey production were quite large for that time. Back in the 11th century, a certain traveler Gallus wrote in his notes that in Russia there are a great many beekeepers, bees and bees, as well as honey and wax in abundance. It was with on-board beekeeping that attempts began to be made to preserve bee colonies. Beekeepers-beekeepers began to leave some of the honey in the hives for the winter to feed the bees, and protected the beekeepers from bears, martens and other enemies.
Along with beekeeping, log beekeeping appeared in the 17th century. The name of such beekeeping is due to the use of logs - parts of a tree trunk with a completely cut out core, closed at the top and bottom with lids and having a hole for bees. The reason for the complete transition to log beekeeping was the massive deforestation during the reign of Peter I. Beekeepers, in order to preserve bee colonies, began to place logs near their homes.
One of the main advantages of keeping bees in logs is the closeness of keeping bees to natural conditions.
Depending on the conditions for collecting honey in a particular area, the deck contained four or five tiers. A box with honeycomb rudiments was placed on the deck. During honey collection, the bees built the deck with honeycombs and filled it with honey.
The decks could be composite. They were sawn into pieces and stacked on top of each other as families grew larger. Honey was collected from the upper superstructures without killing the bees, and the nest was located from the lower ones. When the honey harvest was abundant, the logs were enlarged with additional extensions, which made it possible to obtain more honey.
Log beekeeping reached its peak of development at the beginning of the 18th century. At that time, almost all apiaries were subordinate to the church and landowners. Almost 400 thousand tons of honey were produced annually. Honey has become a real symbol of Russian hospitality and tea drinking.
The Russian beekeeper P.I. made a great contribution to the development of modern beekeeping. Prokopovich (1775 - 1850) who in 1814 created a disassembling frame hive. American beekeeper Larenzo Loren Langstroth from Philadelphia invented the first hive with movable frames in 1851, which remains today basically the same as it was a hundred years ago. Beekeeping on a global scale has now achieved remarkable success, thanks to the rapid pace of scientific development. It has been proven that beekeeping is of great economic importance for the development of horticulture. Thanks to pollination, which occurs with the help of bees, yields are ten times higher and better quality products are provided.
To date it has been proven great importance, on the human body, and (bee glue) and - for various industries. Bee honey, in which the bee has preserved the youth of nature, reveals its life-giving qualities, and honey therapy is included in medicine.
Lady's fly... this is a simple, but such a great name the people gave to bees. These tireless workers are capable of pollinating plants in a field measuring tens of thousands of hectares. No one can replace them; no equipment built by man is capable of performing this work with such precision and delicacy. While collecting nectar, pollen sticks to the bee's furry body. These workers carry it, thereby promoting plant reproduction. At the same time, bees are also pest fighters. Since, by collecting all the nectar from flowers, they deprive harmful insects of food.
But even more unique is the ability of bees to heal people from illnesses, lift people out of depression and simply give joy to our taste buds. It’s hard to imagine how many priceless gifts these little healers give us: honey, beebread, propolis, bee jelly, wax and bee venom.
The most famous and popular “house doctor” is honey. With incredible pleasure, we take home a jar of this divine delicacy, imagining how we will treat ourselves and get healthier. Medicinal properties honey is known to everyone. This wonderful product is a great helper for colds, as well as stomach and other diseases. internal organs. It is used for depression and insomnia. Regular consumption of honey is not only tasty, but also healthy. It strengthens memory, normalizes the metabolism of the human body and increases the level of intelligence.
Flower pollen or beebread can replace honey. It contains more than 240 various elements. These are proteins and fats, vitamins and mineral salts, hormones and enzymes. In general, everything that is necessary for the development of the body. Equal to perga nutritional value No. Therefore, pollen is used for anemia, exhaustion and weakness. It will also have a beneficial effect on people prone to depression.
Another unique product is bee glue or propolis. Bees use it to seal cracks to prevent enemies from entering. Propolis is a very good antiseptic. They treat non-healing wounds, ulcers, tuberculosis at any stage, frostbite and burns. In medicine, bee glue (propolis) is used in the form of alcohol tinctures.
Even after their death, bees provide benefits. They are dried and ground. They make tinctures that are used to heal wounds and treat external skin diseases, and reducing toothache.
Royal jelly resembles jelly with an apple flavor. It is a highly nutritious product with a high content of proteins and vitamins. Areas of application: strengthening the immune system, normalizing metabolism, blood pressure and vascular condition.
The secretion of the poisonous glands of bees is called apitoxin or bee venom. It is used to protect against enemies. IN large quantities may cause motor paralysis. But in moderate doses, bee venom is beneficial. The introduction of bee venom can be either natural - a bite, or in the form of ointments and various rubbings. Apitoxin stimulates nervous system, actively helps against the formation of blood clots. Since ancient times, it has been used for radiculitis, arthritis and other joint diseases.
But do not forget that honey-containing products interact very actively with the human body. Therefore, before use, you must ensure that there are no allergic reactions.